Hi all rollers! its been quite a time since this blog is updated. This entry was intended to be published at my personal blog, but since its dead and that this blog seriously needs some new life, I decided to post it here. *claps claps*
anyway i am going to discuss abt appearance and reality, control and true love in this entry. All this is going to be discussed in the framework of Matrix and its philosophy. (so its better if you have watched that series of movies).
Before I dive straight into my points, allow me to acknowledge a book entitled More Matrix and Philosophy Revolutions and Reloaded Decoded by William Irwin. After reading sections of the book, I was deeply enlightened and was even periodically unplugged from the reality, facing glimspes of truth that has created so much hype in philosophers.
Matrix has been centred around some theories put forth by famous philosophers, like Plato and Descartes. I shall briefly explain them, as best as I can. One of the theory is the famous allegory of the Cave, conceptualised by Plato. In this allegory, there are prisoners chained in a cave where they are unable to move their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects, that pass behind them. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see. The implications are that the prisoners easily mistake appearance as reality. They perceive the images on the walls as the truth (the real forms) but ironically, they would know nothing of the real causes of such appearance (which is the reality.) Another theory is Descartes's Meditations. There is a particular point where Descartes believe that there is a evil genius deceiving us about the nature of reality, so that for all we know, we are just brains but are wired to imagine and believe that we all have a physical body and lives. In short, all such theories are just pointing to a truth that the world is not exactly what you see..
Therefore how do we exactly differentiate between appearance and reality? On which basis do we judge? As for the case of allegory of The Cave, the prisoners can only find out reality if they are able to free themselves from the chains that bind them and be able to explore the real world. We must be able free ourselves from this world of appearances and leave behind false illusions and step into a new dimension of Pure Forms. ( Plato believed that Pure Forms can only be found in the heavens.
louis vuitton handbags All things on Earth are just mimics of the Pure Forms.) This might sound a little too complicated, but I believe that Plato is asking us to free ourselves from just looking at the surface of things but to allow ourselves to think intellectually and discover new wisdom. And it that, lies the key to distinguish appearance and reality. As above " Matrix speaks to [people] experiences in having been deceived by appearance from the real truth," explained Irwin.
I understand that this is a little taxing on your brain cells. you are allowed to take 5 mins of toilet break. =D (5 minutes later...)
Let's continue to point 2: control. What is control? Who can exert control? According to
Cambridge dictionary, control is the exercise of power, to order, limit, instruct, rule over another person or thing. In Matrix Reloaded, there was a dialogue that illustrated the exercise of control between Councilor Hamann and Neo.
CH (councilor hamann): have you been to the engineering level? I love to walk there at night, it's quite amazing. Would you like to see it?
Neo: Sure.
CH: Almost no one comes down here, unless, of course, there's a problem. That's how it is with people- nobody cares how it works as long as it works. I like it down here. I like to be reminded of this city survives because of these machines. These machines are keeping us alive, while other machines are coming to kill us. Interesting, isn't it? Power to give life, and the power to end it.
Neo: We have the same power.
CH: I suppose we do, but down here sometimes I think about all those people still plugged in the Matrix and when I look at these machines, I .... I cant help thinking that in a way, we are plugged into them.
Neo: But we control these machines, they don't control us.
CH: Of course not, how could they? The idea is pure nonsense, but .... it does make one wonder just... what is control?
Neo: If we wanted, we could shut these machines down.
CH: Of course.... that's it. You hit it! That's control isn't it? If we wanted, we could smash them into bits. Although if we did, we'd have to consider what would happen to our lights, our hear and our air.
Neo: So we need machines and they need us. Is that your point, Councilor?
CH: No, no point. Old men like me dont bother with making points. There's no point.
This has illustrated the concept of subtle control, where the control is not complete. As in the example, a structure that is being depended upon, exerts a kind of control, which we would probably not even realised that there is such a control over our actions and behavoir. But, can we ever break free from the controls that other beings exert on us? In the matrix, Merovingian has a wrong perception of the control, as being a chain of cause and effects and that we are powerless to stop such universal real truth.
Merovingian: ... soon the why and the reason are gone, and all that matters is the feeling itself. This is the nature of the universe. We struggle against it, We fight to deny it, but it is of course pretence, it is a lie. Beneath our poised appearance, the truth is that we are completely out of control. Casuality. There is no escape from it, we are forever slaves to it. Our only hope is to understand the "why". "why" is what separates you from me...
However, the real truth of control is cast onto a different light. Control can never fully bind us. They can deviate and influences us but we remain free to think and resist that control.
Architect: Please, as I was saying she (oracle) stumbled upon a solution whereby nearly 99% of all test subjects accepted the program as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level. While this answered the function, it was obviously fundamentally flawed thus creating the otherwise contradictory systemic anomaly, that if left unchecked might threaten the system itself. Ergo those that refuse the program, while a minority, if unchecked could constitute an escalating probability of disaster.
This illustrates that even in a controlled environment such as the Matrix World, there are still people who could resist the control of the Matrix and make a choice to be unplugged and face the truth. "We can never see past the choices we don't understand," said the Oracle. In this context, it implies that we must be able to understand our decision and only then, can we be able to resist any forms of control. This leads to some disturbing questions: Should you control your own thoughts? Should you control your emotions? In my own opinion, I believe that the choice is up to an individual. If one chooses to be angry/sad, he must be able to understand the rationale behind his emotions/thoughts before feeling in such a way. To be sad because he feels sad is an example of poor self-control. To be sad because he understand why he is sad is therefore a true form of control. (get the point?) Pardon my simplified example. I shall quote Marrcus Aurelius advises, "Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears." to end the discussion of control.
ok. so there's another topic to be covered. go take your 5 mins toilet break. Don't hesitate to vomit if you have the urge to do so.
In Matrix, lies a close example of true love. There is Trinity, who is interested in Neo. As predicted by the Oracle, Trinity would fall in love with 'The One'. As the crew of Nebuchadnezzar began to be influenced by the unusual ability of Neo and are influenced that Neo is indeed 'The One', Trinity was going through an another confirmation test. She wasnt sure that Neo is 'The One' because of his abilities. She was sure that Neo was 'The One' because she likes him. However in another twist in the story, Neo suddenly died after doing battle in the Matrix with Agent Smith. Does this means that there are no results to love and that 'The One' is just a bullshit title? Does this means that the Oracle was talking crap? Trinity remarked that "Oracle told me I would fall in love with The One." Trinity loves Neo. Therefore Neo must be The One. Thanks, to her love, Neo comes to life. (sidetrack: therefore we can conclude that love creates life. lol) In another separate test, Neo had to choose between saving
Zion or rescuing his love, Trinity. The Architect puts forward as: " the door to your right leads to the source and the salvation of
zion. the door to your left leads back to Matrix and , to her (trinity) and the end of your species." Neo ultimately followed the path of true love, the path of returning to Trinity, to the very end. Even when Trinity died in the end, the spirit of her true love and nature of the path she took lives on in Neo.
That's what I call true love.
Food for thought.... Agent Smith's speech to pick a fight.
Why keep fighting? Is it freedom or truth? perhaps peace, could it be love? Illusions, Mr Anderson, vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself. Although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love.